Apple Bloom nuzzled her nose affectionately into Spike's purple scales as he kissed her lightly behind the ears, prompting her to giggle.
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at the act of displayed affection. Are those two at it again? She thought to herself.
"Girls? If you two are done smooching over there, can we please get back to some official CMC business?" Scootaloo asked with an annoyed tap of her hoof against the floorboards.
Apple Bloom didn't hear her. Or if she did, she was too occupied with gazing lovingly into Spike's green reptilian eyes.
''Apple Bloom!'' Scootaloo snapped, instantly having an effect on the dream-like state her farm filly friend was in. She looked like she had just come back from a different planet.
''Huh?'' she asked, absentmindedly. ''What?''
Scootaloo groaned and rolled her hoof. ''Official CMC business?'' she repeated.
Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly. ''Oh, right, I, uh,''she cleared her throat. ''What were we going to be doing, again?''
Sweetie Belle face hoofed; Scootaloo slumped to the ground.
"You two have only been dating a few weeks! How could you be this distracted?" Scootaloo moaned.
Spike blushed and held Apple Bloom's hoof. "I'm sorry if I'm a distraction. I can go if you want."
"Nonsense, Spike," Apple Bloom said, kissing her boyfriend’s cheek. "You can stay as long as you'd like."
Scootaloo sighed. "Alright, but if you prove to be a distraction again, you're out. Okay?"
"I understand," Spike said.
"Okay, then. Let's get down to business," Sweetie Belle said, moving over to the wall where they kept their current list of clients. "We have three thing we are going to try to get Double Dazzle's cutie mark. First we will launch him out of a slingshot, to see if he can get his cutie mark in being a daredevil. Second we will teach him to juggle. Lastly we will get him to dance in front of other ponies."
"And if none of those work?" Scootaloo asked.
"Then we will do what we do best. Never give up."
"Oooh, I'm so excited! I wonder what his cutie mark will look like!" Apple Bloom said, jumping up and down. She grabbed Spike and pressed her lips onto his. He blushed.
"Oh come on, Apple Bloom! Enough with the mushy stuff!" Scootaloo said, averting her eyes.
Sweetie Belle giggled. "Alright, Spike would you like to help us?"
"I'd love to." Spike smiled.
"Are you sure about this?" Double Dazzle said looking at the fearsome slingshot. A rickety ramp was placed on the far end of the sling shots ramp. He flapped his wings nervously.
"I've done this a hundred times," Scootaloo said, placing her hoof on the colt's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I promise you'll be fine."
Double Dazzle gulped. "Well okay..."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle moved off to the side. Apple Bloom and Spike were snuggling near the stake that held the massive rubber band in place.
Spike blushed as Apple Bloom kissed his cheek. "Stop it, Apple Bloom. We have to get back to work."
"You know, I think you're cuter when you blush," Apple Bloom said, kissing Spike on the lips this time. The purple dragon blushed harder.
"Just let it go already!" Scootaloo yelled. Those two can't keep to themselves for even a minute.
Apple Bloom continued to snuggle Spike. Double Dazzle threw down his helmet.
"I don't wanna do this!" he yelled.
Distracted, Apple Bloom let the stake go, snapping the band back. Double Dazzle went flying forward. Thud! He crashed through the ramp. Sending wood chunks flying.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ran to him right away. Hearing the commotion Apple Bloom and Spike went to the colt's aid as well.
"Ooh! Pretty birdies!" Double Dazzle said. His world was spinning.
"Oh my goodness! Double Dazzle, I'm so sorry!" Apple Bloom said, helping the colt to his hooves.
"It's okay, Mommy. I wanted the blue one anyways," he replied.
"I think we should take him to the doctor," Scootaloo said.
"Twilight might be able to help," Spike offered.
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I think it's best we take him to an actual doctor."
"Yeah, I agree. Alright, Spike help me stand him up," Apple Bloom said.
"Well, you're lucky. He could have suffered a brain contusion. Or worse, a subdural hematoma. But he got off easy with a broken wing," Doctor Pone said.
Apple Bloom collapsed to the ground, Spike fell with her, putting his arm around the filly’s shoulder.
“Apple Bloom, it wasn’t your fault,” he said. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle moved to comfort the red haired filly, placing their hooves on her shoulder. She shrugged them all off.
“No! No, it’s not as easy as that! If it wasn’t for me, Double Dazzle wouldn’t be in this mess right now!”
Doctor Pone cleared his throat. “Excuse me ladies, gentlemen, a nurse will come in shortly, along with Double Dazzle’s parents.” He left the room.
Apple Bloom leaned against the wall, tears streaming down her face. “If it wasn’t for me. . .”
Spike came up behind her, taking her hoof in hand. “Apple Bloom, it was an accident. If it’s your fault, then it’s my fault as well. I was the one who distracted you. But, if I’ve learned anything it’s that you can’t let the mistakes of the past hold you back from improving the future. You acknowledge that you messed up, now you have to move past it.” He tried hugging her, she went limp, her body slipping too the ground, she crawled around the purple dragon.
“No! No, no, no, no! Spike, I was the one who put Double Dazzle here. I was the one who thought it’d be a good idea to bring you along. I was the one who let you distract me. . .”
Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck. “Apple Bloom, Spike’s right, you can’t let this bring you down so much. You-”
“No!” Apple Bloom cried, tears streamed down her face, her body was shaking.
Sweetie Belle placed her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “We’ve all made mistakes, you know that more than anypony. Double Dazzle will be fine, he-”
“No! No! I, I just can’t even look at you!” Apple Bloom turned her gaze towards Spike, the purple dragon let out a gasp.
“Apple Bloom, you don’t mean that you don’t want too see me anymore, do you?”
“I don’t know what I mean! I just wanna be left alone!” She ran at full speed out of the hospital room, slamming the hospital doors as she ran outside. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn’t go after her, only turning their attention to Spike...
“Don’t worry about Apple Bloom, I’m sure she’ll come around eventually,” Scootaloo said.
“She, just might be a bit stubborn about it.” Sweetie Belle place her hoof on the dragon's shoulder. Spike let out a sigh.
“Thanks girls. I think I’m just gonna head home though. . .”
Spike pulled the blanket over his head. The sunlight danced across the room as Celestia raised the sun.
“Spike!” Twilight called. “Spike! Where are you? You were supposed to help me reorganize the library again…”
Twilight stopped when she saw Spike. He was curled up in a small corner of one of the hallways in the massive east wing.
Twilight genially placed her hoof on Spike’s back. “Spike, what’s wrong?”
Spike shrugged her off. “I’m fine.”
Twilight lay down, pulling the blanket off the small dragon. He grumbled, and continued to brood. Twilight placed her hooves on his belly, and started tickling him. He squirmed beneath her.
“Stop it! Twilight, stop it!”
Twilight smiled, releasing the dragon from his torment. “Now, what’s wrong?”
Spike sat up; taking in a deep breath. “Apple Bloom and I kind of got in our first fight yesterday. . .”
Twilight pulled the purple dragon in for a hug. “Oh, Spike, I’m so sorry.”
“Well,” Spike said, taking in a breath,”I don’t think she exactly broke up with me. But we kind of caused a colt to end up in the hospital yesterday. And it happened because Apple Bloom was distracted by me…”
“I heard about that,” Twilight said, kissing Spike’s forehead,”But I didn’t know that was the cause of it...”
“Yeah. . .” Spike cried into the alicorns fur. Twilight restered her head on top of the dragons.
“Spike, I promise everything will be okay.”
“Ayahh!” Apple Bloom cried as she sent her back legs flying into the trunk of the apple tree. The leaves rattled, Apple Bloom looked up. Sighing she turned to leave, a bright red apple came flying down, clunking her on the head.
“Euuh!” Apple Bloom banged her head against the base of the drunk, tears forming in her eyes. Oh, Spike. . .
“Apple Bloom!” Applejack called from behind.
“Ah! Applejack, I was, uh...just about to go finish up my chores!” Apple Bloom hurriedly wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Uh, right,” Applejack said sighing. “Now, darling you haven’t said hardly a word since ya came home yesterday. Why don’t ya tell me about what happened?”
“Happened? Oh nothing happened, we just had more CMC business to take care of! Yeah that’s all it was. . .”
Applejack wrapped her hooves around her sister, pulling the filly close to herself. She sat down, forcing Apple Bloom onto her lap.
“Applejack! Let me go!”
“Nuh uh. Not until you tell your big sister what happened yesterday.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Well, the other crusaders and me, and Spike, we went to help this colt, Double Dazzle, get his cutie mark, but it didn’t turn out so well. . .”
“How do you mean?” Applejack asked.
“Well, Double Dazzle ended up in the hospital. And it was my fault. If it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t be there right now. . .”
Applejack leaned her head on top of Apple Bloom’s, the filly was wiping tears from her eyes. “Now, Apple Bloom, tell me exactly what happened.”
Apple Bloom sniffled. “Well, me and Spike, we were kissing and cuddling each other. And uh, we were supposed to launch Double Dazzle off of this ramp using a slingshot, and well we let the release pin go early, and that’s how Double Dazzle got hurt. . .”
“How is it your fault?”
“I wasn’t paying attention so I let the pin go even though Double Dazzle had already said he didn’t want to do it, and he didn’t have time to get out of the way. If I wasn’t distracted by Spike none of this would have happened. . . “
“Apple Bloom, that sounds like an accident too me. You didn’t intentionally try and hurt Double Dazzle. And you feel sorry about it, that counts for something in my book. Listen, all you can do now is apologize, and see what happens from there,” Applejack said, letting go of Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom pressed her face into her sister's fur, tears streaming down her already wet cheeks. “I also got in a fight with Spike yesterday! I, I, told him I just wanna be left alone. I said if he wasn’t there none of this would have happened!”
Applejack rubbed her hoof through her sister's mane. “Hush now. Listen, Apple Bloom, you and I don’t know that. Nopony knows that. Maybe Double Dazzle wouldn’t have been hurt if Spike wasn’t there. Maybe he would have gained his cutie mark. Or maybe he would have been hurt even worse. Apple Bloom, you did something bad. You understand that you did something bad. All you can do now is move on from that. You can’t beat yourself up about something you did in your past for the rest of your life. All you can do is own up to your mistake, and move on from there.”
Apple Bloom sniffled. “Thanks, Applejack. Do you think, Spike will forgive me?”
Applejack smiled. “I’m sure he will darlin. I’m sure he will. Now, why don’t you and me go down to the hospital and see this Double Dazzle fellow. If you really feel so bad, you should apologize.”
“But what if he doesn’t accept my apology?”
“Then he doesn’t accept it. I’m guilty of this myself, but in the end you can’t please everypony. And not everypony is willing to forgive you for your past mistakes. Regardless of how sincere you may or may not be.” Applejack stood up, Apple Bloom did the same.
“Thank you, Applejack.”
“Ah shucks, it ain’t nothing sis. Come on now. It’s gettin late.”
Applejack eased open the hospital room's door as Apple Bloom stuck her head in. Double Dazzle was awake, he was reading a Daring Do book. He put it down as Apple Bloom entered.
“Oh hey, Apple Bloom. . .” he said.
Applejack stood too the side, smiling at the pegasus colt.
“Double Dazzle, I’m so sorry for what I did to you. It’s my fault. If it wasn’t for my careless behavior you wouldn’t be here right now.”
Double Dazzle yawned. “Apple Bloom it’s alright. I, I should have been more careful too. I shouldn’t have agreed to do that stunt in the first place. And besides, I don’t have to go to school for three weeks now! Oh and I got my cutie mark!”
“Really?” Apple Bloom ran too the colt’s side, and looked at his flank. A piece of paper and pen were now in the place where once only blank fur existed. “Oh my gosh that’s so awesome!”
“Huh, yeah. My mom just brought me some drawing paper, and I’d never even tried before, but once I did it I loved it, and then I got my cutie mark! So, huh, I guess you girls helped me get my cutie mark anyways. . .”
Apple Bloom sighed. “I’m still really sorry for what happened to you.”
Double Dazzle smiled. “It’s really okay Apple Bloom. I’m not mad, it’s all in the past now.”
Apple Bloom did her best to hug the injured pegasus, a smile spread across her lips as she did so.
Spike looked solemnly at the ground as he swung his legs on the park bench. It was late in the day and most ponies were already heading home.
“Spike!” Apple Bloom called, she was approaching from in front of him.
He didn’t look up, he continued to swing his feet. “I thought you were mad at me.”
“Well, not really, I was more mad at myself than anything else. I’m sorry for getting upset earlier. I know you were right. I overreacted, and I’m sorry about that. I, I still want to be with you Spike. I, I just hope you can forgive me. . .”
Spike looked up, his eyes meeting with the yellow furred filly’s. “Apple Bloom, of course I forgive you.”
They moved their lips towards each other, meeting in the middle. Apple Bloom pulled the dragon in closer just as the moon started to rise overhead. Spike let his body melt against the ponies fur, feeling her warmth against his own. They broke apart.
“I love you, Spike.”
THE END
